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Addresses  at  the  Several  Receptions  in 
Honor  of  the  Royal  Italian  War  Com- 
missionin  New  York,  Jiine2 1-23,  1917 


By 

Nicholas  Murray  Butler 

Chairman  of  the  Mayor's  Committee  on  Reception 


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New  York 
1917 


ADDITIONAL  COPIES  MAY  BE  HAD  ON  APPLICATION  TO 

DIVISION  OF  INTERCOURSE  AND  EDUCATION 

CARNEGIE  ENDOWMENT  FOR  INTERNATIONAL  PEACE 

407  WEST  II7TH  STREET,  NEW  YORK  CITY 


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UNIVERSITY  PRINTING  OFFICE 
COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY 


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i 

Address  delivered  at  the  official  reception  of  the  Royal 
Italian  War  Commission  at  the  City  Hall,  New 
York,  June  21,  1917 

Your  Royal  Highness,  Your  Excellencies,  and  Gen- 
tlemen: This  is  an  hour  and  this  is  an  experience 
which  make  history  for  New  York  and  for  the  na- 
tion. You  have  heard  from  the  lips  of  His  Honor  the 
Mayor  of  the  welcome  which  the  City  tenders  to 
this  company  of  men  of  affairs  and  men  of  state 
who  come  bearing  high  commission  from  the  gov- 
ernment and  the  people  of  Italy.  You  have  seen 
in  the  crowded  streets  through  which  you  have 
passed,  you  have  heard  from  the  voices  of  the  school- 
children and  their  elders,  the  acclaim  which  is  in  every 
American  heart  as  you  put  foot  in  our  great  cosmo- 
politan capital.  The  Mayor  has  said  that  this  is  a 
peculiar  city.  New  York  is  a  great  city;  too  great  for 
envy.  New  York  is  a  powerful  city;  too  powerful  for 
boasting.  New  York  is  a  generous  city;  too  generous 
to  feel  the  need  to  extol  the  art  of  giving.  New  York 
is  a  patriotic  city ;  too  patriotic  to  be  satisfied  with  the 
service  of  the  lips.  For  nearly  three  years  the  pop- 
ulation of  this  great  metropolis  has  watched  with 
tense  expectancy  the  movement  of  opinion  beyond 
the  sea,  and  when  the  time  came  that  Italy  saw  its 
duty  and  prepared  to  do  it,  the  ringer  of  fate  pointed 
to  a  quick  coming  of  the  day  when  the  experience 
of  the  United  States  would  be  the  same. 

[3] 


W2264 


THE      ROYAL      ITALIAN      WAR      COMMISSION 

This  is  no  ordinary  war.  This  is  no  war  prose- 
cuted by  allied  peoples  and  by  allied  armies  with 
hymns  of  hate  upon  their  lips.  This  is  no  war 
of  conquest.  This  is  no  war  of  destruction.  This 
is  a  war  of  a  kind  which  Italy  knows  so  well — 
a  war  to  unify  and  to  free  men.  May  one  suppose 
that  the  great  peace-loving,  industrious  popula- 
tion of  the  United  States  could  be  turned  from  their 
occupations  to  take  up  arms  at  this  day  in  the  history 
of  the  world  on  any  but  an  issue  which  stirs  men's 
souls,  which  appeals  to  men's  consciences,  and  which 
holds  men's  intelligences  in  the  tight  grip  of  everlast- 
ing principle?  Nothing  less  could  have  brought 
Italy,  nothing  less  could  have  brought  the  United 
States,  into  this  contest  which  is  to  be  prosecuted, 
be  the  day  soon  or  far,  until  the  aims  for  which  it  has 
been  undertaken  are  secure  beyond  human  per- 
adventure.  The  world  has  no  intention  of  repeating 
this  experience.  It  proposes  by  the  aid  of  Italian 
arms,  by  the  aid  of  Italian  patriotism,  by  the  aid  of 
Italian  ideals,  and  by  the  aid  of  Italian  devotion,  to 
write  a  page  in  the  record  book  of  the  world's  his- 
tory which  can  never  be  erased  or  turned  back. 

You  are  welcomed  with  heartiness  and  welcomed 
with  acclaim  by  this  great  population.  The  nearly 
eight  hundred  thousand  among  us  who  revere  the 
name,  the  tongue,  the  traditions  of  Italy  and  in 
whose  veins  runs  Italian  blood,  are  of  the  very 
stock  and  stuff  of  our  best  citizenship.  They  are 
gathered  here  in  great  and  representative  number. 
They  have  lined  the  streets  through  which  we 
have  come,  and  they  will  line  the  streets  through 

[4] 


THE      ROYAL      ITALIAN      WAR      COMMISSION 

which  we  are  yet  to  go.  They  represent  a  bond — 
a  bond  which  is  human  and  therefore  immortal 
— between  the  sun-kissed  land  from  which  they  came 
and  this  bounteous  land  across  the  sea  which  they  have 
made  their  home.  It  is  not  that  they  love  Italy  less, 
but  that  they  have  found  here  a  new  opportunity  to  go 
forward  in  those  paths  which  most  warmly  appeal  to 
them;  and  this  they  can  do  with  no  breach  of  tra- 
dition, no  break  of  affections,  no  sundering  of  ancient 
and  familiar  and  beloved  ties.  That  is  why  this 
great  element  of  our  metropolitan  population  is  so 
sternly  and  so  strongly  American,  and  why  it  is  at  the 
same  time  so  fond  of  the  name  and  the  fame  of  Italy. 
That  is  why  it  represents  a  bond,  a  bridge,  an  invisible 
bridge,  across  the  great  ocean  over  which  ideas  and 
accomplishments  come  and  go,  pass  and  re-pass,  as  the 
great  human  tide  flows  on  to  make  itself  felt  in  the 
accomplishment  of  liberty.  That  is  the  keynote  that 
we  strike  at  the  opening  of  these  memorable  days. 
These  are  days  that  we  do  not  forget,  because  they 
stir  our  souls.  These  are  days  that  we  cannot  forget, 
for  they  make  us  into  new  men. 

We  greet  Your  Royal  Highness  and  Your  Excel- 
lencies. We  greet  in  you  not  only  high  Commissioners 
of  a  sovereign  and  a  friendly  State,  but  leaders  of  a 
great  people,  engaged  with  the  free  peoples  of  the 
world  in  a  crusade  to  rescue  the  sacred  places  of 
liberty  from  those  who  would  destroy  them. 


[5] 


II 

Address  delivered  at  the  luncheon  given  in  honor  of 
the  Royal  Italian  War  Commission  by  the  Mer- 
chants' Association  of  New  York,  at  the  Hotel 
Astor,  June  22,  1917 

Your  Royal  Highness,  Your  Excellencies,  and  Gen- 
tlemen :  This  is  an  exceptional  gathering  of  a  thousand 
merchants  and  men  of  affairs  of  New  York.  You 
have  come  in  the  midst  of  a  busy  day  to  bid  welcome 
to  this  distinguished  company  of  representatives 
of  the  Government  and  the  people  of  Italy,  and  to 
pledge  once  more,  publicly  and  with  heartiness,  the 
fullest  possible  support  and  cooperation  of  our  people 
in  this  great  enterprise  which  we  have  joined  to- 
gether to  undertake. 

You  are  merchants  and  bankers  greeting  represen- 
tatives of  a  nation  where  banking  was  almost  invented, 
and  coming  from  contact  with  a  commerce  which  looks 
back  to  the  ports  of  Venice  and  of  Genoa  in  the  palmy 
days  of  the  very  beginnings  of  the  overseas  trade  of  the 
world.  We  meet  today  under  these  circumstan- 
ces because  there  is  not  merely  a  friendly  co- 
operation of  Governments,  but  because  there  is  a 
complete  understanding  of  peoples.  Where  the 
hearts  of  two  great  peoples  beat  in  unison,  a  formal 
alliance  between  Governments  is  wholly  unnecessary. 

We  have  embarked  with  our  ally  Italy,  and  with 
our  allies  France,  Great  Britain,  and  the  rest,  upon 
what  I  described  just  now  as  a  great  enterprise;  and 

[6] 


THE      ROYAL      ITALIAN      WAR      COMMISSION 

that,  gentlemen,  is  a  joint  enterprise,  to  be  prosecuted 
jointly  to  a  conclusion  that  shall  not  be  traded  away, 
bit  by  bit,  but  that  shall  be  made  the  basis  for  a  new 
world  order. 

Voices  come  to  us  from  one  land  and  another,  ask- 
ing the  consideration  of  separate  peace.  Remember, 
gentlemen,  one  of  the  most  ancient  of  fables;  how 
easy  it  was  to  break  every  fagot  singly  and  how  im- 
possible to  break  them  when  bound  together  by  a 
common  strand.  There  is  only  one  way  in  which  the 
Teutonic  Powers  can  win  this  war  or  bring  it  to  a 
drawn  battle,  and  that  is  by  dividing  the  Allies,  by 
breaking  one  by  one,  fagot  by  fagot,  the  concerted 
opposition  to  militarism  which  has  now  stirred  every 
free  and  liberty-loving  people  in  this  world. 

We  are  approached  with  seductive  formulas: 
'There  must  be  no  indemnities',  and  'There  must  be 
no  annexations  of  territory'.  Perhaps  not;  but  just 
what  do  those  words  mean?  If  by  indemnity  is 
meant  the  old-fashioned  mediaeval  system  of  puni- 
tive indemnity,  no;  we  have  outgrown  all  that.  But 
if  by  no  'indemnity'  is  meant  that  those  who  have 
ravaged  and  ravished  Belgium  and  France  and  Serbia 
and  Roumania  and  Poland  are  not  to  restore  those 
peoples  to  their  homes,  I  very  greatly  mistake!  We 
may  not  even  discuss  that  question,  however  indi- 
rectly, with  an  enemy,  for  it  goes  to  the  very  bottom 
of  this  war.  If  a  great  series  of  public  crimes  has 
been  committed,  those  public  crimes  must  be  atoned 
for  in  the  only  way  that  is  possible. 

No  payment  of  money  can  bring  back  the  precious 
lives  that  were  sunk  on  the  Lusitania!    No  payment 

[7] 


THE      ROYAL      ITALIAN      WAR      COMMISSION 

of  money  can  restore  shattered  Louvain  and  rav- 
ished Termonde !  No  payment  of  money  can  rebuild 
the  Cathedral  at  Rheims!  No  payment  of  money 
can  bring  back  those  burned  and  ravished  villages  in 
Serbia  and  in  Poland !  For  those  crimes  the  everlast- 
ing execration  of  history  is  the  penalty.  Gentlemen, 
those  names  will  remain  figures  of  speech  for  base- 
ness and  cruelty  a  thousand  years  from  now!  But  a 
payment  that  will  do  something  to  make  good  the 
private  losses  and  damages  inflicted  on  every  hand 
is  not  a  punitive  indemnity;  it  is  a  legal  fine  to  be 
collected  by  process  of  public  law. 

And  then,  gentlemen,  we  are  approached  with  an- 
other seductive  phrase — 'There  are  to  be  no  annex- 
ations'. What  does  that  mean?  If  by  'annexations' 
is  meant  the  violent  transferring  of  territory  to  a  new 
sovereign  against  the  will  of  its  people,  certainly  not. 
That,  too,  is  a  mediaeval  conception  that  we  have  out- 
grown. But,  if  by  'annexation'  is  meant  returning  a 
child  to  its  mother,  we  shall  insist  upon  it! 

Alsace  and  Lorraine  were  stolen  before  the  sight  of 
all  the  world  and  they  must  be  given  back!  Italia 
Irredenta,  with  its  great  population  held  forcibly 
under  Hapsburg  rule,  would  not  be  annexed — it 
would  be  brought  home! 

These,  gentlemen,  are  the  answers  that  are  on  our 
lips  and  in  our  hearts  to  those  who  would  seduce  us 
with  formulas.  We  are  simple  men  of  affairs.  We 
sign  a  bond  only  after  reading  its  terms.  We  wish 
to  know  the  meaning  of  these  words  and  we  shall  not 
permit  the  honeyed  sounds  of  rhetoric  or  sentiment 
to  cloud  our  vision  as  to  what  words  mean. 

[8] 


THE      ROYAL      ITALIAN      WAR      COMMISSION 

'No  indemnities'?  Certainly  not.  'No  annexa- 
tion'? Certainly  not!  But  restoration,  restitution, 
and  the  return  home  of  stolen  and  scattered  children ! 

Gentlemen,  all  these  great  questions  might  not  have 
been  solved  in  the  ordinary  processes  of  evolution  for 
a  hundred  years.  It  might  have  taken  one  generation 
after  another  before  these  hard  problems  of  public 
law  and  public  policy  could  have  been  raised  for 
solution.  They  were  raised  when  the  cruel  hand  of 
militarism  was  lifted  to  strike  an  innocent  neutral 
nation.  Prussian  militarism  has  made  its  bed;  now 
let  it  lie  in  it! 


[9] 


Ill 

Address  delivered  at  the  dinner  given  by  the  Mayor 
of  the  City  of  New  York  in  honor  of  the  Royal 
Italian  War  Commission,  at  the  Waldorf-Astoria 
Hotel,  June  22,  1917. 

Your  Royal  Highness,  Your  Excellencies,  and  Gen- 
tlemen: This  notable  demonstration  is  a  fitting 
climax  to  your  welcome  to  the  City  of  New  York.  It 
reveals  with  new  emphasis  the  sincerity,  the  convic- 
tion and  the  purpose  of  this  City  and  of  the  nation. 
There  are  still  ringing  in  our  ears  the  acclaim  given 
but  a  few  short  weeks  ago  to  the  distinguished  Com- 
missions from  France  and  from  Great  Britain.  This 
hall  has  seen  many  distinguished  and  representative 
gatherings,  but  never  has  it  seen  gatherings  more  dis- 
tinguished, more  representative,  or  more  significant, 
than  those  which  gathered  then  and  now.  They  in- 
clude the  whole  citizenship  of  New  York,  regardless 
of  party,  regardless  of  faith,  regardless  of  social  dis- 
tinction; that  whole  citizenship  speaks  with  one  voice 
in  its  welcome  to  this  company  of  eminent  Italians. 

Tonight  the  name  that  is  on  our  lips,  the  thought 
that  is  in  our  hearts,  the  history  and  achievements 
which  we  like  to  recall,  are  those  of  Italy.  That  na- 
tion binds  together  the  ancient  world  and  the  world 
in  which  we  live.  Take  it  away  and  history  in  its 
continuity  is  destroyed.  That  nation  is  the  link  be- 
tween East  and  West.  Over  its  plains  and  mountains 
and  through  its  gates  have  come  for  two  thousand 

[10] 


THE      ROYAL      ITALIAN      WAR      COMMISSION 

years  a  great  procession  of  ideas  and  ideals  to  make 
the  civilization  which  is  ours,  and  which  we  at  this 
moment  are  in  arms  to  defend. 

Strike  out  Italy  and  there  goes  at  one  blow  the 
best  of  the  world's  art;  its  painting,  its  sculpture,  its 
music,  its  architecture,  are  hopelessly  wrecked  and 
destroyed.  Strike  out  Italy  and  the  world's  poetry 
and  letters,  the  world's  science  and  practical  accom- 
plishment, are  broken  in  half.  Strike  out  Italy  and 
ancient  Rome  has  no  place  in  which  to  die,  while  the 
Renaissance  and  the  modern  spirit  have  no  cradle  in 
which  to  be  born.  Gentlemen,  we  cannot  strike  out 
Italy  from  history  unless  we  are  prepared  to  wreck 
the  world. 

Do  not  forget  that  the  Government  of  Italy  first 
pointed  out  to  an  anxious  and  listening  world  the 
fact  that  this  war  was  a  war  of  aggression  by  the 
Central  Powers  that  undertook  it.  There  were  con- 
ditions under  which  Italy  was  in  alliance  with  those 
Powers,  but  they  were  not  conditions  which  bound 
it  to  a  war  of  aggression  on  a  feeble  people,  and 
when  the  Government  of  Austria-Hungary  took  its 
aggressive  steps  towards  Serbia  and  called  upon  Italy 
to  follow,  the  Government  of  Italy  wrote  its  name 
high  in  history,  in  indelible  letters,  when  it  not  only 
refused  to  follow  but  denounced  that  act  as  an  aggres- 
sion in  the  face  of  the  world. 

That,  gentlemen,  is  Italy's  crowning  service  to  our 
generation,  if  she  had  never  sent  a  soldier  to  the 
front  and  had  never  won  a  battle.  She  penetrated 
the  moral  and  intellectual  disguise  under  which  this 

[ii] 


THE      ROYAL      ITALIAN      WAR      COMMISSION 

contest  was  forced  upon  the  world.  When  she  called 
us  all  to  witness,  we  opened  our  eyes  and  saw. 

And  now,  thank  God,  we  are  side  by  side  with 
Italy  and  France  and  Great  Britain  and  Russia  and 
Japan  and  the  rest,  in  this  stupendous  undertaking. 
Gentlemen,  the  chief  obstacle  to  its  success  is  our 
self-confident  optimism  that  the  war  is  already  won. 
Do  not  mistake:  those  of  you  who  heard  this  after- 
noon the  convincing  and  eloquent  demonstrations  by 
Signor  Arlotta  and  Senator  Marconi,  those  of  you 
who  listened  to  those  demonstrations,  know  that  this 
contest  is  not  won  and  will  not  be  won  until  Amer- 
ica puts  every  bit  of  its  strength  and  fibre  into  it. 

It  will  not  do,  gentlemen,  to  saunter  into  war;  it 
will  not  do  to  talk  about  war;  it  will  not  do  to  pass 
resolutions  about  war.  A  stupendous  contest  is  on 
and  the  fate  of  the  principles  upon  which  this  nation 
rests,  is  at  stake.  We  have  started,  with  Italy  and 
France  and  Great  Britain,  on  a  quest  like  that  of 
Jason  of  old  in  his  search  for  the  golden  fleece.  We 
have  started  to  win  a  war  for  a  new  world.  The  old 
world,  the  world  of  19 14,  the  world  at  home,  the 
world  abroad,  the  world  in  its  domestic  conditions, 
the  world  in  its  international  relations,  that  world  has 
gone  forever.  We  have  started  out  in  quest  of  a  new 
world,  and  this  war  is  at  bottom  a  contest  as  to 
whether  that  new  world  is  to  be  a  place  in  which 
men  shall  live  in  freedom  rather  than  in  fear,  in 
peace  rather  than  in  perpetual  dread  of  war;  whether 
it  is  to  be  a  world  of  opportunity  or  a  world  of  des- 
potism; whether  it  is  to  be  a  world  in  which  every 
individual  is  called  upon  to  give  his  best  that  he  may 

[12] 


THE      ROYAL      ITALIAN      WAR      COMMISSION 

be  his  best,  or  a  world  in  which  every  individual 
shall  take  the  place  that  is  assigned  him  by  a  higher 
power  to  do  another's  will,  and  subject  to  no  appeal. 
We  are  searching  for  a  new  world.  As  Governor 
Hughes  said  so  finely  this  afternoon,  it  is  a  new  world 
in  the  very  sense  in  which  those  navigators  of  the  fif- 
teenth and  sixteenth  centuries  set  out  upon  their 
voyages. 

This  world  is  near  at  hand,  or  else  it  does  not  exist 
at  all.  Either  this  new  world  is  where  we  can  go  out 
and  find  it,  and  by  our  resourcefulness  and  our  courage 
and  our  skill  can  create  it,  or  else  this  new  world  is  in 
the  distant  clouds  and  is  a  thing  of  dreams.  If,  gentle- 
men, this  new  world  of  peace  and  happiness  and  pros- 
perity and  opportunity  and  freedom — if  this  new  world 
of  which  we  are  in  search — is  a  dream,  then  the  greater 
portion  of  the  human  race  is  dreaming.  If  that  is  a 
hopeless  vision,  then  the  greater  portion  of  the  human 
race  is  absorbed  in  contemplating  the  unpractical, 
because,  as  if  sundered  by  a  knife,  mankind  finds  it- 
itself  in  two  great  camps,  professing  two  opposing 
faiths,  pursuing  two  opposite  ideals,  hopelessly  in 
contradiction,  not  to  be  compromised,  and  one  to  be 
victorious  by  force.  Never  in  all  history  has  just 
such  an  issue  been  presented  to  men  before,  and  that 
issue  presented  to  Italy,  to  France,  to  Great  Britain, 
to  America,  awaits  decision  at  the  hands  of  our 
capacity  and  of  our  courage. 

There  are  very  few  American  schoolboys  who  have 
not  at  one  time  or  another  written  an  essay  or  de- 
livered an  oration  on  the  topic  'Beyond  the  Alps  lies 
Italy'.     Every  schoolhouse  in  the  land  has  held  up 

[13] 


THE      ROYAL      ITALIAN      WAR      COMMISSION 

the  Alps  as  the  great  obstacle  to  endeavor,  and  Italy 
as  the  rich,  happy,  and  fortunate  reward  of  conquest. 
Hannibal  carried  his  troops  from  Africa  across  the 
Alps  to  reduce  ancient  Rome;  Caesar  sent  his  legions 
across  the  Alps  to  the  conquest  of  Gaul  and  Britain; 
Napoleon  led  his  troops  across  the  Alps,  building 
roads  which  are  a  model  of  engineering  construction 
at  this  moment;  and  now  Cadorna,  at  the  head  of  the 
Italian  hosts,  is  seated  on  the  very  summit  of  the 
Alps  surrounded  by  his  heroic  troops  armed  with  the 
heaviest  ordnance  known  to  modern  warfare,  where 
Hannibal  and  Caesar  and  Napoleon  were  glad  to  go  by 
the  lowest  passes.  It  is  the  most  astounding  achieve- 
ment in  the  whole  history  of  war,  this  Italian 
army  hurling  itself  at  miles  of  Alpine  peaks,  every 
fastness  held  by  a  skilled  and  well-armed  enemy,  in 
order  to  assist  your  enterprise  and  mine,  in  order  to 
make  Italy  free,  united,  independent,  and  safe. 

We  know,  gentlemen,  we  all  of  us  know  the 
splendid  story;  we  know,  and  our  city  bears  the 
marks  of  our  knowledge,  of  Mazzini,  the  prophet  and 
the  seer;  of  Cavour,  the  master  builder;  of  Garibaldi, 
the  citizen  soldier;  and  of  the  calm,  penetrating  judg- 
ment of  Victor  Emmanuel,  first  ruler  of  free,  united, 
and  independent  Italy. 

What  Italy  struggled  for  in  her  internal  develop- 
ment for  two  generations,  she  is  struggling  for  at  this 
moment  for  all  mankind.  She  has  gained  for  herself 
the  aim  which  she  sought,  and  now,  with  calm  seren- 
ity, with  sincere  conviction,  with  generous  sacrifice, 
she  adds  her  power,  her  hosts,  her  traditions,  and  her 
ideals  to  this  great  contest  over  human  principle. 

[14] 


THE      ROYAL      ITALIAN      WAR      COMMISSION 

And  do  you  say  that  we  cannot  find  a  new  world? 
Do  you  say  that  the  obstacles  are  too  great;  that 
human  greed  and  human  selfishness  and  human  de- 
sire for  power,  and  all  the  long  list  of  other  human 
failings,  are  so  many  and  so  great,  that  our  new 
world,  for  which  we  profess  to  be  fighting,  must  re- 
main a  land  of  dreams;  that  it  is  beyond  the  reach 
of  the  practical  in  life,  and  that  no  armies,  no  vic- 
tories, no  conquests,  no  arguments,  can  ever  reach  it? 
If  that  be  your  question,  you  are  pointing  to  the 
Alps.  In  answer  I  say  to  you,  Beyond  those  Alps 
lies  Italy. 

IV 

The  address  delivered  at  the  Stadium  of  the  College 
of  the  City  of  New  York  on  the  occasion  of  the 
assembly  of  the  Italian  Societies,  June  23,  19 17,  was 
not  reported. 


[15] 


M22f      *9 


D5M 


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